R.C. Sproul

And He ascended on clouds of glory, on the Shekinah cloud.

and the expectation is that His return will be just as visible and just as glorious when He comes at the end of the age.

However, in spite of these clear prophecies of the New Testament,

The subject of Christ's personal, visible, glorious return to this world has been one of the most controversial issues in the last couple of hundred years with respect to the question of the authority and integrity of sacred Scripture.

In my book, What Jesus Says About the Last Days, I give a summary of the critical theories that have emerged in that timeframe that I just mentioned with the rise of higher criticism and the unprecedented assault against the reliability of the New Testament documents and of the reliability of the teaching of Jesus.

I went to a seminary where I was exposed to this kind of critical theory virtually every day, and the New Testament professors who denied the return of Christ constantly pointed to texts in the New Testament where the prophecy of the return of Jesus was couched in a certain frame of reference with respect to time.

And the arguments that I was hearing were the arguments that had its roots in 19th century critical theory.

Albert Schweitzer, for example, in his quest for the historical Jesus, described Jesus as one who had a critical sense of awaiting for God to intrude into history and bring his kingdom from on high in a decisive manner that Jesus expected to transpire during his lifetime.

And Jesus,

was disappointed because he expected when he sent out his 70 disciples on a mission that that would be the occasion that God would use to bring the kingdom from heaven.

Didn't happen.

Jesus thought then when he came into Jerusalem amidst the shouts of Hosanna from the populace there, that maybe that would be the occasion where God would bring the kingdom, but he didn't.

And Jesus allowed himself to be arrested, to go through the scourging and the humiliation

of the beatings that followed and so on, and was even willing to be taken to the cross because he fully expected that when he went to the cross, that while he was on the cross, then at the last minute, the Father would intervene, rescue him, and bring the kingdom.

While he was dying, suddenly realized it wasn't going to happen.

And so he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And died in disillusionment.

That's the Jesus that was portrayed by Albert Schweitzer.

Now subsequent scholars following after Schweitzer said, yes, we have to take seriously these passages in the New Testament that seem to indicate that Jesus expected and taught

His personal return within the lifetime of His own disciples, within the timeframe of the first generation of Christians.